NEW ORLEANS — Newt Gingrich spent an entire week campaigning in the Pelican State. But he may not win a single delegate in Saturday’s primary, once again leading to questions about the end of his campaign.

There are 46 delegates at stake in Louisiana, of which 20 will be awarded proportionally based on the primary. Party rules require that a candidates nab at least 25 percent of the popular vote to qualify for at-large delegates, state GOP Director Jason Doré said. Some delegates will remain unbound if candidates don’t meet the 25 percent threshold.

With 98% of precincts reporting late Saturday, Gingrich had garnered just 15.9 percent of the vote. Rick Santorum won the primary with 49.2 percent, with Mitt Romney finishing second with 26.5 percent.

The remaining delegates will be divvied through a caucus and state convention next month.

It’s the first time in recent memory that Louisiana has seen a competitive primary, Doré said. The state party is expecting for turnout to exceed that in 2008, when John McCain and Mike Huckabee remained in the race when it was clear the former had clinched the GOP nomination.

But none of the candidates were in Louisiana when polls closed.

“There hasn’t been a Louisiana primary with this much interest in 20 or 30 years, if not longer,” Doré said. “It’s a big deal for Louisiana. It’s great that we’re getting this much attention.”

Primary voters are paying attention to the coverage, said Ulrich, the GOP national committeewoman from Louisiana.

She has been traveling the state to introduce candidates, particularly in the more rural northern part of the state.

“We’re later on the process and usually by that time, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “People are really glad that Louisiana is not being ignored.”

While his rivals competed in Illinois, Gingrich dedicated the entire week before the primary to stumping in Louisiana, working his way from Shreveport, the city in the most northwestern area of the state, to Port Fourchon at the state’s southeastern tip.

“With your help on Saturday, I believe for the ninth or tenth time in this cycle can reset the race,” Gingrich said at a campaign speech in Baton Rouge on Thursday night.

Gingrich thought his energy-heavy campaign message would play well in Louisiana, where the oil industry comprises a large chunk of the state’s economy. But even pledges to open up more offshore drilling weren’t enough to help.

After losing Florida and Nevada, Gingrich set out to run a Southern campaign, skipping states outside of Dixie and concentrating on places near his former home state of Georgia. But the former House speaker couldn’t edge Santorum in Tennessee, Mississippi or Alabama, making his argument that he could sweep the South and ride it to the nomination an impossibility.

Gingrich has since switched gears and is now arguing that he can pick up enough delegates to prevent Romney from getting the GOP nomination. But that argument may soon crumble if he fails to get enough votes to earn delegates in Louisiana.

All three candidates competing heavily for Saturday’s vote had been organized in the state, Doré said, utilizing strong local operations ahead of the national campaigns sweeping in.

“The Louisiana political world is very excited to be part of the process,” said GOP strategist Mary Matalin, who lives in New Orleans.

Romney will likely prevail in the more urban New Orleans and the surrounding suburbs of Metarie and Kenner, said Matalin. She also expects he’ll do better than many anticipate in the other cities, including Baton Rouge and Shreveport.

“You got a lot of delegates here. I want, well, I want all of them. I’m probably not going to get all of them, but I want to get as many as I can, so I want to ask get out there and vote. Give me a good sendoff. Illinois did, Puerto Rico did,” Romney told supporters at a campaign rally Friday in Shreveport.

Winning Our Future, the super PAC supporting Gingrich, has been playing heavily on the radio for weeks, Matalin said. But only Romney and Santorum have utilized direct mail, a more targeted way to reach out to likely Republican primary voters.

Santourm’s campaign hired seasoned veterans who worked for Sen. David Vitter’s campaign, even though the senator hasn’t endorsed in the race. He has concentrated on more rural areas, visiting Mandeville, a suburb of New Orleans located across Lake Ponchatrain, and holding his Mississippi and Alabama primary party in Lafayette, a southwest city with a large Catholic population.

Neither Vitter nor Gov. Bobby Jindal have picked sides in the Saturday primary. Jindal, who endorsed Rick Perry soon after he jumped in the race, decided not to pick a favorite of the remaining candidates.

The endorsement of either politician, who are both are are popular with GOP voters, would have been a boon to either candidate.

“Both of them are very good leaders and they’re well liked in the state,” said GOP committeewoman Ulrich. “To what degree it would change elections, who knows?”

Saturday’s vote will only award 20 of the 46 delegates up for grabs in Louisiana. The remaining delegates will be distributed through a caucus system that will conclude with a state convention in late April.

Delegates to a state convention will be selected from each of the state’s six congressional districts in late April. At the state convention, those delegates won’t be bound to the outcome of Saturday’s primary vote, Doré said.

Ron Paul’s campaign has been organized more strongly on the caucus front, Doré said.